Opera played an important role in the life and works of Niccolò Paganini. Opera violinists and composers (Francesco Gnecco, Ferdinando Paër) were among his first teachers. At the age of 23 Paganini became leader of the opera orchestra of Bonaparte’s sister in Lucca. When he finally decided to espouse the career of a traveling virtuoso in late 1809 he used to perform in opera houses, eagerly attending their performances and commenting on them in his letters. As to Rossini, he was dernier cri, at least after the sensational success of his “Tancredi” in 1813. No stage in Italy or abroad could afford to ignore him. Paganini procured himself of a score at least of one Duet from this opera and tried to attend as many Rossini- performances as possible. In his own concert bills he accompanied singers singing Rossini’s arias and enriched them with spontaneous improvisations. He also improvised, composed, and performed purely instrumental variations on Rossini’s most popular themes. At least three of these Variations for violin and orchestra, on themes of “Mosé”, “La Cenerentola” and “Tancredi”, have come down to us. They seem to have been written down in 1818/19. But since Paganini rarely wrote down or mentioned the dates of his compositions we can never be sure.
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:11:39
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | CC72343 |
| Qualities | |
| Channels | 2ch Stereo, 5 Channel Surround Sound, 2ch Stereo & 5ch Surround |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Conductors | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Producer | Bert van der Wolf |
| Recording Engineer | Bert van der Wolf |
| Recording location | live recording Muziekcentrum Enschede |
| Recording Software | Merging |
| Recording Type & Bit Rate | DSD64 |
| Release Date | June 13, 2015 |
Press reviews
Positive Feedback
Love him or hate him, Paganini always makes an impression. Koelman plays boldly, strongly, somewhat dashingly, and he maintains strong forward propulsion giving the music good continuity. Some other performances lose this continuity and forward motion as they emphasize the variety of tones and expression that Paganini’s music quite properly contains. Koelman is not elegant as is Hilary Hahn, but his performances have a strength and movement to them that I very much admire.
De Vreind’s orchestral leadership provides and excellent partnership to Koelman. De Vriend comes with a background in music of the baroque and one might think this places him at some disadvantage in these works. To the contrary in my opinion. I find De Vriend’s lighter, more incisive, tendencies to be exactly what makes this performance more enjoyable for me than many others. Gone is the strong vibrato baggage, gone is the mooning romanticism. Instead one has a rather delightful spring and propulsion to the music. In any event, Koelman and De Vriend seem well matched in their outlook on the performance choices for this music; there is synergy not tension.
Bert van der Wolf’s recording is rich, expansive and airy, nicely capturing the natural reverberation of the hall while providing excellent balance and detail of soloist and orchestra. Another extremely well recorded outing, as we’ve come to expect.
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